KSRTC special bus for Diwali
The Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will run special schedules to meet the Diwali rush. According to the Vice President and Managing Director of the Corporation A.P. Joshi the Corporation will operate nearly 960 buses every day between 6 November 2007 and 9 November 2007 to different destinations throughout the state apart from the regular schedules.Outlining the arrangements made for the Diwali rush Mr. Joshi said 300 buses will start from Bangalore Kempegowda Bus Station towards Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya, Shimoga, Hassan, Davanagere, Hubli Belgaum, Bijapur, Raichur, Gulburga, Bellary and other places. Another 200 buses will operate towards Mysore route and all the special buses towards Mysore will start from Mysore Road Satellite Bus terminus. 100 more special buses will operate from BMTC bus station at Shantinagar on inter-state routes towards Madurai, Kumbakonam, Trichy,Chennai, Coimbatore and other places in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Joshi said special mini buses will be placed at Kempegowda terminus for ferrying passengers to bus stations at Shantinagar and Mysore Road. However all the schedules using Volvo vehicles will continue to operate from Kempegowda Bus Terminus he added.
Reservation for the special schedules could be done at all the 105 reservation centres in the city, 9 counters in Mysore and 14 counters in Mangalore. There are few more vehicles which will be kept reserved for those passengers who did not get the reservation. In an effort to decongest the Kempegowda terminus the KSRTC has arranged for pick up facilities in select extensions in the city like Christ College, Jayanagar Bus stand, J.P. Nagar, Rajajinagar, Peenya, Malleshwaram bus stand and Padmanabhanagar.
Mr. Joshi said the largest number of schedules was towards Mangalore where over 150 buses will ply everyday during the festival. The normal traffic was to the extent of 100 vehicles. He said due to the Shiradi Ghat being closed the KSRTC buses were plying via Mysore and Madikeri and some via Hassan Belur, Mudigere and Charmady. He said the corporation was undergoing losses due to the diversion but the Corporation had not raised the fares keeping in view the interest of the passengers.
